corinthian order

Corinthian Style
The Corinthian style is seldom used in the Greek world, but often seen on Roman temples. Its capital is very elaborate and decorated with acanthus leaves. 

example of corinthian order:Russell house,Middletown,CT 

ionic order

Ionic Style
The Ionic style is thinner and more elegant. Its capital is decorated with a scroll-like design (a volute). This style was found in eastern Greece and the islands. 

example of the ionic order:university of VA 

Doric order

The architecture in Greece in quite vast so we will see that in parts:1:Some great column capitals were created which along with the entablature were called "the orders".One of this order in found in maximum structures in Greece.2:the visual corrections.the greks were the first to take into consideration the minute errors that occured due the perception by the human eye and devised methods to eliminate them.3:different types of structures.Doric
Doric Style
The Doric style is rather sturdy and its top (the capital), is plain. This style was used in mainland Greece and the colonies in southern Italy and Sicily.  

This an example of doric order in USA:NYC custom house. 

Greek arch1

In the agean during pre-historic period there are 2 distinctive traditions which can be seen even in domestic buildings.1:typical house that was free standing with a single room(found on mainland Greece).2:random and asymmetrical agglomeration of rooms(on crete island).thus the architectural styles of these 2 places is different.In Crete it was kind of crude as compared to the mainlad Greece.They had a mediterenean climate and an extrovert society which encouraged outdoor activities and gave way to structures for public gatherings and other activities. 

some more...

Heliocopter - This is a detail of the mechanism that drives the heliocopter. Two men would run on the lower level, which would rotate. The rotation would force the upper "fans" to rotate as well, lifting the heliocopter off the ground.And one more interesting fact:Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. People who study his notebooks have long been puzzled by something else, however. He usually used "mirror writing", starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left. Only when he was writing something intended for other people did he write in the normal direction.You can find more information about some other machinery and also see what your name looks like in the "leonardo style"at this site: http://www.mos.org/leonardo .

sketches of some machines from his diary...

We find some sketches of machines which were far ahead of his time!for eg.here is a sketch of a tank!Leonardo's fascination with machines probably began during his boyhood. Some of his earliest sketches clearly show how various machine parts worked. As an apprentice in the studio of the artist Verrocchio, Leonardo observed and used a variety of machines. By studying them he gained practical knowledge about their design and structure.

Archimedes Screw and Water Wheel
Many ancient machines were in common use in Leonardo's time. For example, water wheels turned millstones to grind grain and Archimedes' screws lifted water from streams providing a ready supply for drinking and washing.

Artists and craftsmen in Leonardo's time knew how to build and repair the familiar kinds of machines. The idea of inventing new kinds of machines, however, would not have occurred to them.
Leonardo developed a unique new attitude about machines. He reasoned that by understanding how each separate machine part worked, he could modify them and combine them in different ways to improve existing machines or create inventions no one had ever seen before.
Leonardo set out to write the first systematic explanations of how machines work and how the elements of machines can be combined.
His tremendous talents as a illustrator allowed him to draw his mechanical ideas with exceptional clarity. Five hundred years after they were put on paper, many of his sketches can easily be used as blueprints to create perfect working models.

Leonardo da Vinci.....more than a painter!

This the world famous Leonardo da Vinci.The world knows him as the famous painter but a few know that he was an architect,inventor and an engineer all in one!!A few more facts:
He had a keen eye and quick mind that led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas.
* He was a gentle vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons.
* He was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, yet he left only a handful of completed paintings.

The "serene"Burj

This shows how it seems at 'peace with itself'being cut-off from the crowded mainlad.

Helipad at Burj-Al-Arab

This pic shows the helipad with seems very small in front of the whole structure!

Burj-Al-Arab,Dubai

This a small diversion from the series...a small break!This is a great hotel built on an island
linked to the mainland in Dubai.It is in the shape of the sail of a ship.Thus it is a great example of contextual
architecture(in context of the vast sea surrounding it).It is complete with hi-tech
facilities like the helipad!These some more facts about it: A 24 meter (79 feet) wide helipad projects from the building 210 meters above the ground.
- The Al Muntaha restaurant is located 200 metres above the Arabian Gulf, offering great views of Dubai. It is accessed by a panoramic elevator.
- The atrium is 180 metres high, one of the highest in the world.
- Burj Al Arab is the world's tallest structure with a membrane facade.
- This is the tallest operating hotel building in the world (not counting mixed-use buildings like Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai or the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea).
- "Burj" is Arabic for "Tower".
- The building's external lighting schemes, from white light to a multicolored one, change from one to another every 30 minutes expressing the evening's progress.

This the statue of amon...which is surprisingly in good state! 

Temple of amon

This sacred area, about 450 miles south of Cairo on the east side of the Nile, had a small shrine to local deity during the 12th Dynasty. However, it developed over a period of about 2000 years into an enormous complex dedicated to the king of the Egyptian gods:Amon-Ra. It was trashed twice--by Akhenaten and by the early Christians--and is still being excavated with parts of earlier buildings found as building rubble in later additions.Amon was considered as the god of masculine fertility.So the entrance to this temple has an avenue of criosphinxes (ram headed creatures).They also have sun discs on their heads and mummified form of rams in thier paws.this temple also has a number of pylons,one being 143 feet high!papyrus columns and obelisks were also an important feature of the temple.I will post some pics of these when I find some good ones!

This a sketch showing the actual arrangement in the pyramid! 

Zoser's necropolis

This was just a phase in the evolution of the pyramid.The name"stepped pyramid"itself is self explainatory. Sakkarah is a very important ancient site in Egypt. The necropolis of Sakkarah was the largest in all of Egypt and of historical significance because all of the principal dynasties of Egypt are represented here. Its name was derived from the Egyptian god Sokar.
The most prominent ancient ruin at Sakkarah is the step pyramid of Zoser, the pharaoh who founded the IIIrd dynasty. Surrounding it are other pyramids and mastabas that are characteristic of the eras. Mastabas, the Arabic word for bench, were the burial chambers of the nobility and its court dignitaries. They were rectangular with slightly inclined walls. Zoser was the first pharaoh to envision a more grandiose burial complex. He commissioned the architect Imhotep to design and build his funerary complex. Imhotep's name can be found in the hieroglyphic characters on the base of a statue representing Zoser. Thus Zoser's was the first funerary structure to appear in the world. Imhotep was also a High Priest and doctor and a man of much genius. The Greeks, two thousand years later, named a god, Esculaphus, after him. Looking at the pyramid one can see what Imhotep did. He built a large rectangular mastaba and on it he placed five successively smaller mastabas to form the pyramid.
Surrounding Zoser's step pyramid are a number of other funerary structures from different periods. .

Ancient Egyptian style

Egyptian style is the quite famous due to the well known pyramids...especially that at Giza.This civilization was very spiritual in nature and believed in life after death.So nearly all the structures that are found are temples or tombs. The Pyramid at Giza,Zoser's necropolis and Temple of Amon are the famous ones.First the pyramids...This is supposed to be the tallest pyramid.It also seems likely that pyramids exist in China, though their investigation has been limited, and we know of no formal archaeological investigation. It is very probable that the small Greek pyramids exist, but many of the remaining structures claimed to be pyramids are questionable. One pyramid in China, called the White Pyramid, is even rumored to be larger then the Great Pyramid of Khufu, though this has only been reported by one person that we know of, and the China pyramid is made of earth, while the Great Pyramid is made of massive stones.
While Egyptian pyramids most always have a man made substructure and are funerary in nature, we know of no pyramids outside of Egypt.

Many questions remain about pyramid's including persistent speculation, some of which is very wild. Some people seen to continue to believe that the pyramids of Egypt were built by aliens or an ancient, advanced race. Among other arguments, they provide the worldwide construction of pyramids, and the obvious difficulties involved with building these massive structures as evidence.

However, there are a number of facts that support more traditional views that Egypt's pyramids were, in fact, built by none other then the ancient Egyptians without outside assistance. These include:

Evolution: Monolithic, smooth sided pyramids did not just suddenly appear in Egypt. There was an evolutionary period, leading to the great pyramids of Giza that began with simple mastaba tombs, expanded into step pyramids, which led to experimentation, some of which failed miserably, and culminating with the perfected structure. In addition, the decorative themes associated with pyramids also evolved over time.

Context: Pyramids fit within both a physical and theological context. Physically, they do not exist alone. They are almost always a part of a religious compound, and sometimes these compounds even fit within the larger context of the pyramid field, all of it related to the very specific religion of the ancient Egyptians. They do not honor a superior or ancient race, but rather their own well documented sun god.

Construction Methods: We not only find the Egyptian's ancient stone cutting and other tools within the ruins of pyramids, we also find some of the ramps that they used, and evidence of other construction methods. These are contemporary tools, and construction methods that would have fit the times.

Regardless, it would appear that pyramids built both inside and outside of Egypt most often are in some way related to sun worship, or at least some form of astronomical religious activity. In Egypt, pyramids were mostly built in the north, where the worship of the sun god, Rain was most dominant. In fact all of the major pyramids were built not far away from Memphis and nearby modern Cairo. Most are located at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, at Saqqara or nearby Abusir or Dahshur, or somewhat farther away, close to the Fayoum region. At least as regards pyramids, the north was at its zenith during the late old Kingdom (5th Dynasty), when kings not only built their pyramid complexes, but also built sun temples.

While the pyramid's built in Egypt seem to be all funerary in nature, to regard them as merely tombs is an oversimplification. It involved a complex of buildings because it was the dead pharaohs palace of the afterlife, where he was mystically transformed and resurrected as a full god. The pyramid itself represented the primeval mound from which the world arose from the ancient waters.

The first pharaoh to build a pyramid in Egypt was probably Zoser, of the 3rd Dynasty.
However, like the pyramids in the Americas, it was not a true pyramid, lacking an outer, smooth casing. After Zoser, there was considerable experimentation directed towards building a true pyramid, evidenced by those such as the Bent Pyramid at Dahshure, as well as other greater failures, such as Snofru's pyramid at Meidum, which was the first to be planned as a true pyramid. At first, their attempts to build a true pyramid were foiled by designs with the sides of the pyramid at too steep a slope. However, by the time Snofru built his other pyramid at Dahshure, the Red Pyramid, they had worked this out, for it is the first of the successful, true pyramids.

The culmination of the grand, most monumental true pyramids came in the 4th Dynasty with the builders at Giza, though the Red Pyramid is indeed a colossus structure. However, for all our awestruck wonder at the great pyramids at Giza, this was certainly not the culmination or even the apex of pyramid building. Only in the 5th Dynasty do we see the form of the pyramid complex grow into maturity.

Pyramids did not have the same structure or follow the exact same guidelines throughout Egyptian history. The early pyramids, particularly Zoser's were very complex with many components. In these early pyramids, the placement of the subterranean chambers and corridors, as well as their number varied considerably from later pyramids.

Milestones in Egyptian Pyramids:

* About 2630 BC: The Step Pyramid of Zoser designed by Imhotep is the first pyramid like structure completed, and is also the world's first known monumental stone building.

* About 2575 BC: The Red Pyramid is built by Snofru as the first successful true pyramid, after a number of failures. It has smoothed, cased sides.

* About 2551 BC: The Great Pyramid of Kufru is built, the largest pyramid ever constructed in Egypt, and may also be the first pyramid to have subsidiary queen's pyramids attached to the complex.

* About 2465 BC: Userkaf's pyramid at Saqqara is the first pyramid with an entrance in the pavement of the pyramid's courtyard on the north side rather than on the face of the pyramid itself. Strangely, the mortuary temple in this pyramid is located on the south side, with only an offering hall on the east.

* About 2375 BC: For the first time that we know of, we find pyramid text within the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara

* About 2278 BC: The pyramid of Pepi II is the last to be built in the traditions of the Old Kingdom, as well as the last to build any monumental pyramid until the beginning of the 12th Dynasty and the Middle Kingdom.
* About 1991 BC: Amenemhet I uses mudbrick to build his pyramid at Lisht. Now, not only is the complex named, but each component of the complex is also given a name.

* About 1956 BC: Senusret I's pyramid at Lisht is built with more subsidiary pyramids then any complex built before, or after his time.

* About 1877 BC: With the pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun, the builders become more concerned with security then tradition, and for the first time locate the entrance to the pyramid not under the north chapel in the center of the pyramid's north wall like many earlier complexes, but rather hid the entry passage in the pavement of the pyramid courtyard near the east end of the pyramid's south side. He also incorporates a more complex substructure suggestive of a move towards the worship of Osiris, and away from the traditions of the sun cult, probably signaling the coming end to the pyramid builders.

* About 1817 BC: Amenemhet III becomes the last, large scale successful pyramid builder with his structure at Hawara. Both it, and his pyramid at Dahshur are built with a monolithic Burial chamber block with niches for the sarcophagus and canompic jars.

However, by the end of Egypt's 5th Dynasty, the complete nature of the pyramids evolved into somewhat simpler, standardized structures with all the necessary components. While the pyramids may not have been as grand as those of Giza, their theology had matured.

With Unas, the last ruler of the 5th Dynasty, we find a pyramid complex with all the components and the proper layout, design and construction. This pyramid is oriented east-west. It had a pyramid, built with a local limestone core and fine white limestone casing, with a north entrance chapel, and beneath the pyramid, a substructure consisting of a descending entrance corridor, with a barrier, leading to the dead king's mortuary apartment directly under the vertical apex of the pyramid. The corridor first arrives at an antechamber, and to the right, or west is the burial chamber, while to the left (east) was a small annex chamber.

There was a pyramid courtyard, a small cult pyramid, thought to be perhaps for the king's ka (soul) and a mortuary temple just to the east of the pyramid. The mortuary temple consisting of an outer section with an entrance hall and an open columned courtyard, which would often have a basalt floor.

The columns supported an ambulatory around the outskirts of the courtyard. The inner sanctum of the mortuary temple had a five niche chapel and behind it an offering hall with a false door adjacent to the pyramid, and centered before it, an altar. The false door allowed the dead king to enter the offering hall in order to take his symbolic meals. Both the inner and outer sections of the mortuary temple had storage annexes to either side The inner and outer sections of the temple were also divided by a transverse corridor. Throughout the structure, liberal amounts of pink granite and fine white limestone were used to sheath walls and for other purposes.

Pyramid of EgyptThis complex was surrounded by an enclosure wall. A causeway, often covered, connected the mortuary temple and pyramid to a small, valley temple, which in many cases was nothing more then a monumental gateway.

In the valley temple, causeway, mortuary temple and substructure of the pyramid, all the proper decorative themes were mostly present, including now finally the famous pyramid text. While none are present at the pyramid of Unas, we might also expect to see subsidiary pyramids and tombs for relatives of the king within the outer enclosure wall, and near the complex there would have been a small town. While the pyramid was being built, workers and craftsmen would live in the town.

Priests and others employed by the mortuary temple would live in a community such as this indefinitely, or at least as long as the king's cult retained worshipers. While Unas's pyramid was not the grandest, or the best preserved, it was a milestone in pyramid construction, with a balanced and complete design.

After Egypt's First Intermediate Period, the 12th Dynasty saw the resumption of monumental pyramid building, but these new pyramids were built of mudbrick cores and did not fair as well over time as the great pyramid's of some earlier builders.

As time progressed, and the end of the pyramid age approached, pyramid construction began to again be less structured. Some traditional concepts, such as the door of the pyramid being located under the north chapel at the center of the pyramid's north face became less important then hiding the door from tomb robbers. It is probable that these pyramid builders forgot some of the skills of their predecessors, for often they have a difficult time placing the burial chamber under the pyramid's vertical axis.
Now, rather then queens having their own smaller pyramids within the complex, they are buried within their own chambers of the main pyramid. And even though some of the tradition is lost, some traditions strongly revert back to design concepts from Zoser's complex at Saqqara.
But with the coming of the Second Intermediate Period, the power structure of Egypt began to shift to the south, where the sun cult was not as prevalent as in the north. There would be some revivals later in Egypt's history, but for the most part this move signaled the end of the pyramid builders.
Perhaps because of available resources, but most certainly also because of changing religious concepts, Egypt left the domain of the pyramid for the high decorative themes and more complex religious theology of the tombs on Thebes' West Bank. This was nevertheless an evolution, for we see many aspects of the pyramid complexes carried over into these new mortuary complexes.

Neolithic age2

This was a temple complex.The temple was "formally planned, had concave monumental façades, trilithion entrance passages, and pairs of lateral and terminal chambers built of tooled orthostatic and megalithic blocks. The inner chambers could be closed off by doors. Successive courses were corbelled, allowing the roof-openings to be narrowed, before being closed with beams and thatch, the earliest known use of this method of construction; it has been suggested that contemporary terra cotta models and engravings of façades were prepared in advance of building to show what was required. Some of the stones were decorated with spiral relief carvings, and the temples were probably plastered internally and then painted"...-Dr.Fletcher.
These are certainly the most beautifully decorated and the largest temples. These beautiful temples lie in the village of Tarxien not far from the Hypogeum. These temples may be considered as the cathedral of megalithic culture in Europe. Here one sees an almost geometrical pattern. With their beautiful spiral motifs and dot motifs, the Tarxien temples are undoubtedly the most beautifully decorated temples. This monument consists of four buildings. The megalithic remains of Tarxien were discovered in 1914 under one meter of earth, by chance by stone masons. The stone-masons could not dig further and the Museums Department was called in. Excavations started in 1915 by Sir Temi Zammit a Maltese archaeologist. At the entrance on the left is a plan showing the order of the layers as they were excavated. The layers were found in this order. At the bottom were found only paving stones. On top was fine grey soil - dating back to Neolithic man. On top of this was found black ashy soil belong to the Bronze Age Necropolis. Then were found stone chippings and on top field soil dating back from Punic times till the present day. Another interesting plan to be seen before one actually goes into the temple is a plan showing the temples in the order they were built. The middle temple is the only temple in the megalithic culture in Malta with three pairs of apsides. Interesting about the Tarxien temples is the fact that they were used as a temple or place of worship by the Copper Age Man and 1000 years later approximately 2500 BC as a burial place by the Bronze Age Man.

The first temple one enters is the third temple that was built, dating back to 3300 years before Christ. This temple has a typical trilithon entrance with two vertical stones and a horizontal one on top and a slightly concave facade.

As one walks further in, one comes across an enormous half statue of the fat lady which is the symbol of fertility. It is probably to the Goddess of Fertility that these temples were erected. These people saw in mother nature, the mother who gave them their children and their food. According to the findings, these temples were never used for the sacrificing of humans but only for the sacrificing of animals, mainly goat, sheep and ram. On one stone relief is carved a picture of these animals, which according to historians, might have served as animals of sacrifice. One can notice here also several altars and decorated stones with dots and spiral motifs. In all the temples spiral motifs be seen. According to archaeologists, these people believed in a life after death and hence the spiral motif which means a continuation of life. Somewhat to the right of the next entrance to the next room is an altar with a dainty spiral motif. During excavations, were found in the niche above the altar, pottery, bones and horns of animals. A flint knife was found in a part of the altar below. These people decorated the stone with instruments made of flint, obsidian (a hard volcanic stone brought by copper-age man from Sicily as Malta was never volcanic), and hard bones of animals. Most of the decorated stones in Tarxien as well as the statue of the fat lady are not originals, but copies. The originals are kept in the National Museum in Republic Street, Valletta. On some of the vertical stones one can see loop-holes. These could have been used for the tethering of the animals before the animals were taken up to the altar of sacrifice. The Chapel served as the Holy of Holies. It was only the High Priest or Priestess, who could enter the temple. The people waited on the outside of the temple and they could ask for advise or may be interpretation of their dreams through the oracle. As one goes further in the temple, one can see a relief in stone which looks like two eyes. On the left room is an enormous stone vessel which is still in original form. It could have been used for the saving of water or for very special rituals. To the right is the entrance to a small room. In this small room are stone relief of animals. One shows a sow with 13 piglets and another stone relief showing a bull whose upper half is badly damaged. The meaning archaeologists give is that the bull represents strength, whilst the cow represents fertility and hence the 13 pigs.

Further in one will notice that the stones are rather brownish in color. The reason being that this is the part that was used as a crematorium by the Copper-age man. In the middle is a hearth which could also have been used for herbs to take off the bad smell from the burning animals. An interesting feature of our temples is that the entrances were always uncovered. The reason being so that the smoke of the animals could escape and the daylight could enter as well. On the other hand, it is thought that the apsides were always covered on top. The building of the apsides in the temples is always in a corbelled shape. The horizontal slabs move gradually further and further inwards to form a dome. Then the top must have been covered with either leather or some thatch. Also on the vertical stones of the entrance to the various rooms are holes which could have been used for a leather door which could then be secured by some vertical object. In order to reach the last room one must go through an entrance. Even here can one can see a repetition of the main entrance, i.e. a trilithon

Items out of burnt loam, flint and stone as well as personal jewelry were found in large quantities in Tarxien. In the upper layer were items from Copper and Bronze Age such as daggers and beautifully decorated urns with dainty dot and zigzag motifs with ashes. The pottery found in Tarxien is also the most beautiful. All these things contribute to the unique beauty and magnificence of these temples and therefore one can say that the Tarxien Temples are the most beautiful prehistoric remains in Europe.

Neolithic age1

We can trace the art of building from this age.The still existing examples of this neolithic style are:The stonehenge at Salisbury,England and The Temple at Tarxien,Malta.Neolithic or "stone age" architecture includes some of the oldest known structures made by humankind. Neolithic cultures are distinguished from earlier Paleolithic and Mesolithic structures by the domestication of plants and animals, and extensive making and use of stone tools.

Neolithic cultures have been shown to have existed in southwest Asia as early as 8000 b.c. to 6000 b.c., and Neolithic cultures had existed around the globe by 1500 b.c. By 3500 b.c., Neolithic cultures in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys in the Middle East had developed into Bronze Age urban civilization. The stone henge is of the neo-lithic monumental style.It was used as a temple or an observatory.
Current archaeological research shows that this site was constructed and modified on various phases, spanning several centuries:
* Pre-Stonehenge (9th-8th millennium BC): at least 4 mesolithic pits which originally contained big pine posts, in a line about 200m from the present henge site
* Stonehenge 1 (from 3100 BC): construction of the circular bank, the ditch, and the 56 Aubrey Holes which probably originally contained timber posts
* Stonehenge 2 (from 2550 BC): pottery, animal bones, and cremated human remains placed in ditch; cremations deposited in some of the partially filled Aubrey Holes; complex of posts in interior and in entrance causeway
* Stonehenge 3 (from 2100 BC): sequence of stone-related structures. A close dating is not possible, but the sequence was probably as follows:
1. Bluestones from Wales erected in q and r holes and then dismantled
2. Sarsen circle and trilithons erected, possibly also a bluestone setting which may have included trilithons, this latter then dismantled
3. Bluestone circle and oval setting
4. Arc of bluestones removed from oval to leave present horseshoe setting
5. Y and Z holes dug, probably for stones which were never erected; during this phase the avenue was also constructed.
Early mention of Stonehenge was made in 1135 by chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed that it was brought by a tribe of giants from Africa to Ireland, and from there flown by the wizard Merlin across the sea. Another legend claims that the stones were stolen from an Irish woman by the Devil, and re-erected on Salisbury Plain by Merlin for Ambrosius Aurelianus, the King of Britons.
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A tour thr' building styles of all ages!

As I am an architect I love buildings and also the history behind them.I will try and create a tour through of the styles of buildings right from stone-age to the modern ones.Every day will have a new style awaiting you!!

A good piece of art!

This is one amazing creation made from...guess what...just sand!

World's only indoor beach!

This is the world's first (till now the only!) indoor beach at Miyazaki, Kyushu. Its called the Ocean dome. Ocean dome has its own flame-spitting volcano,crushed white marble "sand"and it also boasts the world's largest retractable roof ,providing a permanantly blue sky! Temperature,wind andhumidity are closely controlled to provide an ultra-safe "sea-side"experience. Every hour,the volcano erupts and the the hi-tech wave machines start up,starting a few minutes of sanitised surfing.Entrance costs US$50,which can seem expensive especially when there is a free,natural beach just 300 mts away!!